HIS ATI Radeon HD 4670 IceQ

Overclocking

We overclocked the HIS Radeon HD 4670 512MB IceQ graphics card using RivaTuner v2.22 to increase the clock speeds and Crysis to check that the card was stable at the higher speeds.

We increased the frequencies by 5MHz at a time, testing for visual corruption and throttling with Crysis under DirectX 10 at each incremental boost.

As a quick reminder, the 4670 512MB IceQ comes clocked at 750MHz core and 2,000MHz (effective) on the memory.

After a bit of time tweaking and stress testing, we settled on a final overclock of 875MHz on the core - a significant 16 percent increase and one that makes us wonder why on earth HIS shipped this card without any sort of factory overclock to the core, especially when there’s clearly so much overclocking headroom. Memory overclocking didn’t fare so well, but we were still able to increase it up to 2,300MHz, an improvement of a solid 15 percent, especially impressive when you consider the whopping core clock we were running alongside.

In terms of performance, this overclock added a good three frames per second to DirectX 10 Far Cry 2 at 1,680 x 1,050 with 4xAA, a very respectable improvement especially for a mid-range card.

Cooling wise, the Arctic Cooling designed custom cooler, while it might be a few years old in design, is still more than up to the task. We found that it improved the card’s operating temperatures from 40°C on the stock card to 36°C when idle, and from 88°C to 75°C when at load. It was also able to produce these solid results without ever becoming audible – a welcome inclusion for anyone who values a quiet system while grabbing a few frags.

Value and Final Thoughts

While the overclocking and cooling performance of the card might be impressive, we must admit to being rather underwhelmed by the HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ. Would it really have hurt to overclock the card out of the box (we’re still not counting the 200MHz memory increase, as it’s supported by stock cards anyway), especially as there’s clearly a bucketload of overclocking headroom here – you don’t overclock a graphics card by a over 15 percent with pure luck.

Because it hasn't been overclocked to any real degree, our benchmarks were almost a formality – there’s no performance advantage whatsoever in buying this card over a stock 4670. And for those who aren’t interested in overclocking, namely the entry level users this type of card is targeted at, for close to £70 there really isn’t any real reason to choose it over any cheaper, stock version, which can be had for a few quid less.

Even then, the 4670 still struggles to hold its own against Nvidia’s G92 and G94 legacy. A Palit GeForce 9600 GT 512MB can be purchased for less than £70, and stomps ATI’s mid-range card in every single test by a significant margin, especially when the resolution gets up to 1,680 x 1,050. In addition, the GeForce 9600 GSO, while not particularly impressive here, is available for roughly the same as the 4670 and usually comes with a ferocious factory overclock – more than enough to turn the tide in the frame per second stakes.

With that said though, picking up a mid range graphics card like the 4670 is always going to be something of a false economy. Sure you save a good £30 opting for the Radeon HD 4670 over the Radeon HD 4830 or 9800 GT, but you’re getting a whole lot less graphics card and we’re certain the compromise just isn’t worth it.

Spending a lot on a graphics card might be hard to stomach, but in the vast majority of games it’s going to have the biggest impact on your enjoyment. Save a little cash now and in 12 months time you’ll be back to square one with a card that’s struggling to deliver playable frame rates with games looking their best. Spend a bit more though and you’ll get a card that should prove to be a whole lot more future-proof – just ask the GeForce 8800 GTX owners out there still happily running a card the bought over two years ago!

Priced a good £5 more than competing 4670s, (at this low price point, an increase of eight percent) offering absolutely no out of the box improvement in graphics performance over a stock card and greatly outperformed by similarly priced cards from The Green Team, it’s difficult for us to recommend this card. Sure the extra cooling is nice and so is the silent running, but at this price level bang per buck is everything - and that's just something the HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ doesn't deliver enough of.

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Score Guide